Car-door



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROYAL L. OOLBY, OF ALEXANDRIA, MINNESOTA.

CAR-DOOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent N0. 613,495, dated. November 1, 1898. Application filed March 26, 1898. Serial No. 675,248. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may oon/cern:

Beit known that I, ROYAL L. OoLBY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Alexandria,in the county of Douglas and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Doors; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to freight-car doors, and more especially to that class adapted to cars intended to convey grain and the like. These doors are usually applied to the inside of the car-door opening, at the `lower portion thereof, to prevent the escape of the grain from the side and bottom edges of the ordinary freight-car door. Doors of this character have been made, I am aware, with provision for throwing the door tightly against thedoor-jambs when locked for the purpose of preventing the escape of the grain at the sides thereof.

It is the object of my invention to provide a grain=car door with simple means, capable of ready and easy operation, for locking the door in place, which means shall perform the dual. function of forcibly pressing the door tightly to its seat both against the jambs and the sill, and thus effectually prevent'escape of grain or the like at any point.

A further object is to arrange such means at different points on the door, so that it will be rigidly held in position at all points.

A further object is to provide the door with a plurality of locking-bolts, preferably one at or near each of the four corners thereof, and a single operating means for throwing all of the bolts simultaneously.

Afurther object is to generally improve and simplify the construction and arrangement of such locking-bolts and their operating means.

With such objects'in view my invention is embodied in the parts, arrangement, and combinations thereof, to be hereinafter described, and particularly set forth in the claims.

In order that my invention may be better understood, I have shown in the accompanying drawings a practical embodiment thereof, but desire it to be understood that I do not limit myself to the exact construction which I have therein, for the sake of illustration, de'- lineated.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a door, showing myl improvement applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view on line 2 2 of Fig. l, showing the door in elevation. Figs. 3 and 4 are end and inside elevations of the bolt-keeper, and Figs. 5 and 6 are end and side elevations of the bolt.

' Referring to the drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views, A represents a grain-car door which, as is usual in such doors, covers but the lower portion of the door-opening.v This door may be provided with suitable supporting-brackets a, slidably engaging vertical rods B, secured at the sides of the door-opening to the car side and provided near their upper ends with shoulders b, with which said brackets a are adapted to engage when the'door is slid vertically up,

ward and on which the door may be turned when raised up into the position shown in the dotted lines in Fig. 2 and there secured out of the way by any preferred means, as a hook b, depending from the car-roof. The parts above described are common in grain-car doors and form no part of my invention, and

'other means for accomplishing the same result may be employed.

Slidably mounted in brackets l, preferably arranged one at or near each corner of the door, are bolts 2, adapted to be thrown into engagement with metallic keepers 3, arranged in suitable relation thereto on the door-jambs. These bolts and keepers are of novel construction tobe hereinafter described. For throwing these bolts simultaneously I pivot on four bolts 4, one adjacent to each of the bolts 2, four short levers 5. At one end each of the two levers 5 at one end of the door is pivotally connected to a rod 6, and one end of each of the twolevers 5 at the opposite end of the door is pivotally connected to a similar rod 6a. One of these rods 6 and 6a is pivotally connected at its end opposite its connection with the levers 5 with a lever 7 on one side of its fulcrum 7 a, and the other of the levers 6 and 6 is pivotally connected to the lever 7 IOO on the other side of its fulcrum. By this construction it will be seen that by turning the lever 7 on its fulcrum the rods 6 6a will be moved in opposite directions and will turn the levers 5 upon their pivots 4, thus throwing the bolts 2 into or withdrawing them from their keepers, according to the direction of the movement of the lever 7. It will be readily understood that if the bolts 2 have a somewhat loose engagement in theirbrackets 1 they need simply to be pivoted to their operatinglevers 5 and will have suiiicient lateral play to permit of the operation of the levers; but as my bolt and keeper are of peculiar construction I desire that the bolt should always be held in proper relation to the keeper, and for this purpose I give each bolt a rather extended bearing in its bracket 1, so that it has practically no lateral movement, and provide each operating lever 5 with a slot 4b, into which the pivotal connections between the bolts and the levers slidably engage. The levers 5 are similarly slotted at their opposite ends at 5b to aord a sliding engagement for the pivotal connection between them and the levers 6 and 6a. To insure a perfect adjustment of the parts and to permit the bolts to be thrown a greater or less distance to properly seat them in or attract them from the keepers, I have shown each of the rods 6 and (in provided with a series of bolt-holes 6b, into any one of which the pivot-connecting bolt between the lever 7 and the rod 6 or 6 may be inserted.

To hold the parts in their locked or unlocked position, a rack 8 is secured to the door, with the teeth of which a projection S on the lever 7 is adapted to engage. Any suitable means, however, may be provided for lookin g the lever in its different positions.

Referring especially to Figs. 3 to 6, it will be seen that the bolt 2 is provided at its outward end, or that end which engages the keeper, with an inclined surface 2 on its top and on its outer side or side away from the door with an inwardly-inclined surface 2b, and its keeper 3 is likewise provided with a downwardly-inclined surface 3 on the under side of its top, with which the inclined surface 2 of the bolt is adapted to engage, and with an inwardly-inclined surface 3b on its side, with which the inclined surface 2b of the bolt is adapted to engage. On account of the relative arrangement of these inclined surfaces of the keeper and bolt it will be seen from Fig. 1 that when the bolt is moved longitudinally the engagement of the inclined surfaces 2 and 3a will tend to force the bolt inward and downward. As the bolts are arranged at the four corners of the door and secured thereto, the described inclination of each of the bolts to move downward and inward will cause the door to be firmly thrown downwardly against the sill and inwardly against the door-jambs, forming a perfectly tight joint between the door and its casing.

The arrangement of the bolts relative to their keepers is such that when the inclined surfaces of either or both become worn it is simply necessary to throw the bolts farther into the keepers and they will have the same effect, and this additional movement of the bolts can be readily accomplished with the same throw of the lever 7 by adjusting the pivot-connecting bolts of the lever 7 into the proper aperture 6b in the levers 6 and 6,

If the door A should be let into seats in the jambs instead of being placed against the outside surfaces thereof, as shown, so that the face of the door would be iiush with the face of the jambs, it will be necessary to provide recesses or notches 9 in the jambs opposite the bolts to permit of the proper inward movement of the bolts when thrown.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination with a grain-car door, of means for moving the door downwardly to its sill and inwardly to its jambs, comprising a bolt at each end of the door; metallic keepers on the jambs provided with outwardly-extending portions each having a double inclined surface, and means for throwing said bolts.

2. The combination with a grain-car door, of four bolts slidably mounted thereon, one at or near each corner, four levers each pivoted to the door and one pivotally attached to each bolt, a rod pivotally secured to the adjacent ends of two levers at one side of the door, a second rod pivotally secured to the adjacent ends of the two levers at the opposite side of the door, a hand-lever pivoted to the door and pivotally connected to each of said rods, means for holding said lever in dif-y ferent positions, and keepers for the bolts.

3. The combination with a grain-car door,

of a hand-lever pivoted thereon, four bolts slidably mounted on said door, one at or near each corner thereof, a separate means for throwing each bolt, two rods connected to said hand-lever, each of said rods being operatively connected to two of said bolt-throwing means, and keepers for the bolts.

4. The combination with a grain-car door, of bolts, one at each side thereof, a lever 5 for each of said bolts, a hand-lever pivoted to the door, rods pivoted to each of said levers 5 and adj ustably connected to the handlever, means for holding said hand-lever in different positions and keepers for said bolts.

In testimony whereof I aix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ROYAL L. COLBY.

Witnesses:

WILLARD ALBEN, WILLIAM CoRT.

IOO 

